St. George Elementary School, Folkston GA

Original Research by School Decision on St. George Elementary School

St. George Elementary School serves children in pre-K through sixth grade in Folkston, a small rural county seat in southeast Georgia near the Florida border. The school's enrollment is small, with roughly equal cohorts across grades. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, reflecting economic conditions in the surrounding community.

The school's academic profile shows uneven strength across subjects and grades. In math, proficiency is strongest in the lower grades, with third graders showing very high proficiency and a steady decline across grades four, five, and six. English language arts proficiency runs lower overall and also declines with grade level, starting around three-quarters proficiency in third grade and falling to about two-thirds in sixth grade. Science proficiency in fifth grade stands high. The school's science showing represents a genuine strength; math in the early grades is also solid. By contrast, sixth-grade English language arts and fifth-grade math suggest areas where student progress may need attention. A parent may want to look into further with the school what supports exist for students who are not yet proficient, especially as they move into the upper elementary grades.

Folkston itself is a quiet, low-density residential community. The downtown preserves early twentieth-century commercial architecture along Main Street, with a county library, courthouse, and historic railroad museum and railfan platform serving as civic anchors. Beyond downtown the streetscape is car-oriented, with houses spread apart rather than closely grouped. The town's economy has historically centered on rail traffic and gateway access to the Okefenokee Swamp. More recently, the two largest employers have become a federal immigration detention facility operated by the GEO Group and an industrial landfill accepting coal ash and other waste. The detention center is undergoing a major expansion under a federal contract that, when complete, will employ a substantial workforce and make detainees a majority of the town's resident population. Housing stock is eclectic and mostly predates recent decades; no large new residential subdivisions have emerged. Home values in the Folkston area are modest and remain below state and national benchmarks.

Charlton County Schools, the single district serving the area, has invested in major facility improvements through continued ESPLOST sales tax funding. The most visible recent project is construction of a new Charlton County High School to replace an older building, with phase planning underway as of late 2024. Smaller projects approved through the same mechanism include parking and playground upgrades at St. George Elementary itself.

St. George Elementary is a straightforward neighborhood school serving a geographically small, economically stretched community. The data available covers only the current school year, so trends over time are not visible. A family considering this school would be choosing a small elementary in a rural setting with solid early-grade math and strong science but where reading proficiency and upper-grade performance across subjects warrant closer examination with school staff about instructional priorities and support structures.

See more original research from School Decision →

Academic performance

How students perform on state tests, by grade, set against the district.

Math

Grade 396%

School 96% · District 68% · ▲ 28 pts above district

▲ 56 pts above state median

Grade 483%

School 83% · District 84% · ▼ 2 pts below district

▲ 38 pts above state median

Grade 576%

School 76% · District 46% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 38 pts above state median

Grade 667%

School 67% · District 52% · ▲ 14 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median

English language arts

Grade 381%

School 81% · District 51% · ▲ 30 pts above district

▲ 50 pts above state median

Grade 470%

School 70% · District 63% · ▲ 6 pts above district

▲ 35 pts above state median

Grade 572%

School 72% · District 48% · ▲ 24 pts above district

▲ 33 pts above state median

Grade 663%

School 63% · District 55% · ▲ 8 pts above district

▲ 27 pts above state median

Science

Grade 595%

School 95% · District 59% · ▲ 36 pts above district

▲ 56 pts above state median

Social studies

Grades 3-891%

School 91% · district not reported

▲ 7 pts above state median

This schoolCharlton County, same grade

Graduation rate (ACGR) reflects the federally published Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate for the most recent year available. We refresh this data annually at the close of each academic year in June. The federal source publishes a banded rate (for example, "90-94%") instead of an exact number for cohorts small enough to risk identifying individual students. The state distribution chart, where shown, plots every school in the state with a published rate or band; schools whose rate is federally suppressed are excluded. Where the federal source publishes a band rather than an exact rate, the school is placed within its band using a stable, ID-derived offset, so its position is consistent across visits.